Educational appliance.



Patented July9, I90L W.. H. CARTWRIGHT. EDUQATIONAL APPUANGE.(Application filed In. 99, 1901.)

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I moms Pain: :0. mm'o-uma. msjmpomn, a a w UNiTED STATES PATE T OFFICE:

WILLIAM H. CARTWRIGHT, OF BLAKELEY, MINNESOTA.

EDUCATIONAL APPLIANCE.

vsrnorrroarron forming part of Letters Patent No. 677,952, dated July 9,1901.

Application filed January 29, 1901. Serial No. 45,220. (No model.)

To all whom it may ooncerio:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. CART- WRIGHT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Blakeley, in the county of Scott and State ofMinnesota, have invented a new and' useful Educational Appliance, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relatesto an educational appliance, and particularly toan arithmetical board or device; and the object of the same is toprovide a simple and effective means for assisting a scholar or studentin ascertaining with accuracy a thorough knowledge of the fundamentalprinciples of arithmetic and, while employing mechanical means to attainthis end, overcoming any'tendency toward a mechanical education or onewhere the scholar or student may be trained to depend on a precisearrangement in order to acquire a desired result by causing the use ofthought and the faculties generally in conjunction with the mechanicalparts of the improved device to ascertain the correct result or answerto the addition, subtraction, or multiplication of the several numeralsdisposed in different and related positions on the board. The inventionconsists in the construction and arrangement of the several parts, whichwill be more fully hereinafter described and claimed. In the drawings,Figure 1 is a front 'elevation of the improved device arranged forsolving one of the multiplication-tables. Fig.

2 is a rear elevation of the improved device. Flg. 3 is a transversevertical section through the board. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectionthrough the board looking downwardly, and taken on the line 4 f1, Fig.2. perspective view of one of the nu tuber-blocks and as compared withthat shown by-Fig. 1 illustrating its reversibility. Fig. 6 is a do?tail elevation of one of the removable and replaceable stripsand thesame as that shown by Fig. 1 in reverse position to illustrate thedouble use of the same.

Similar reference characters are employed to indicate correspondingpartsin the several views. The numeral 1 designates the body of the board,which has a substantially smooth face 2 at the front and rear side andupper and lower end strips 3 and ato form a rear recess Fig. 5 is adetail 5. This board is adapted to be fastened to a suitable support forconvenience in operation by the student or scholar, and adjacent to theleft-hand side thereof is a groove 6, extending through the top andbottom and having dovetailed side walls 7. Centrally lined in the saidgroove and spaced apart at regular intervals are a plurality of verticalopenings 8, extending completely through the board in a transversedirection, as shown by Fig. 2, and along the right edge of the saidgroove on the face 2 a numeral-strip 9 is fixed and has a 0 at the headthereof and the numerals from 1 to 12 below the same descending inregular arithmetical succession. On the right side of the face 2 of theboard a product-strip 10 is reversibly and removably mounted and adaptedto be replaced by another of a similar character, the opposite ends ofthe said strip being held in suitable clips or other devices 11 todispose said strip in operative relation to the strip 9. The oppositesides of the strip 10 have a series of product-numerals arranged thereonin a promiscuous manner or in accordance with a system of operationwhich will be presently described. The numerals on one side of the strip10 represent the products of one multiplication-table and those on the0pposite side the products of another table.

Other strips bearing different products for use with other tables may besubstituted for that shown, as desired, and in the arrangement of thestrip 10, as shown by Fig. 1, the products relate tothe 7 table, and onthe reverse side of the same strip, as shown by 'Fig. 6, the productsrelate to the 8 table.

Between the strips 9 and lO a seriesof vertically-alined' push-pins 12are mounted in the board and are supplied with outer heads l3 and rearcircular flanges 14, located in the recess at the back of the board,there being as many of the said pins as there are characters on the saidstrip 9 and products on the strip 10. The rear flanges 14 areincontinual operative engagement with spring-arms 15, located in therecess at the back of the board, and have the oneextremity of eachsecured to the board and the opposite extremity bent at an angle to forma stop 16, the said stops being freely movable through the openings 8and normally projecting in advance of the plane of the front face of thegroove 6. Then the pins 12 are pushed rearwardly, the arms are movedback and the stop ends 16 thereof are Withdrawn rearward to clear thefront face of the groove. Some of the arms also have depending angularextensions 17, from which the stops 16 terminally project, and thesearms, with the extensions, are arranged in alternation between othersthat are regularly disposed to break the alined sequence of the supports16 relatively to the pins 12, so that the second, sixth, and tenth arms,counting from the uppermost one, respectively carry the third, seventh,and eleventh stops 16, and the twelfth arm, also having an extension,carries the thirteenth stop and the thirteenth arm at the bottom thetwelfth stop. This irregularity of the arrangement of the arms forcesthe scholar or student to exercise thought in arriving at the resultsought instead of mechanically depending on a regular sequentialarrangement of the arms and stops; and to encourage thoughtful study theproducts on the strips 10 are promiscuously arranged and correspond tothe irregular arrangement of the stops, as set forth.

\Vith the improved board a series'of blocks 18 are employed and formedwith angularlygrooved sides 19 to engage the dovetailed side walls ofthe groove 6, the said blocks being also formed with upper and lowercenter grooves or transversely-extending concavities to form seats forthe stops 16. The blocks are thicker than the depth of the groove 6 andreversible, and on one face have a 7 and multiplicatiomsign and on theother face an 8 and similar sign, as shown, and thus be doubled up toinclude all the numbers of will, and in changing the blocks to bring adifierent table into operative adjacency to the numeral-strip 9 theproduct-strip 10 will also be changed correspondingly.

When the block carrying the desired tablenumber is entered at the upperend of the groove 6, it falls until it contacts with the first stop 16,at which point the number 7, as shown, will be opposite the O on thestrip 9. The student or scholar then reads seven multiplied by cipherequals cipher, found in transverse alinement with the block on the strip10. He then pushes the head of the first pin 12 in a rearward directionto clear the first stop 16 from the lower edge of the block, and thelatter falls to the second stop and directly opposite the numeral l onthe strip 9 and then reads seven multiplied by one equals seven,andlooks to discoverthe said product and finds that it is not opposite theblock, but below the same. The third pin 12 is then pushed rearward toclear the block from its',holding-stop, and the said block then falls tothe third stop in alinement with the numeral 2 on the strip 9 and theproduct 7 on the strip 10. The student then reads seven multiplied bytwo equals fourteen and looks for the said product and finds it is abovethe position or level of the block, and having discovered that the thirdpin 12 controls the second stop he again presses said third pin andmoves the block up in line with 12 on the product-strip. An endeavorwill then be made to bring the block down opposite the numeral 3 on thestrip 9, and naturally the third pin 12 will be pressed to clear the.block and allow it to fall to the third stop and opposite the numeral12, as before. The student Will be puzzled for a time as to how theblock can'be released from its con- 1tact with the third stop until adiscovery is ;made that the second pin 12 controls said lat- ;ter stop,and after releasing the block by this means and allowing it to falltothe fourth stop jopposite the numeral 3 on the strip 9 he lwill readthat seven multiplied by three lequals twenty-one, in a directtransverse line ion the product-strip, and the pins run regularly tocontrol the stops 16 opposite the nuimerals 3 and 4 on the strip 9, andbelow the latter the same irregular operation is pursued as before, andso on at intervals to the bottom of the board or through the Wholeseries of numerals on the said strip 9.

Instead of having the multiplication-tables in operation on the board bythe means set forth obvious changes can be made to convert it for use inaddition, subtraction, and division, and different sets of blocks andproduct-strips will be furnished with each complete board, and, ifdesired, the strip 9 may be replaced by a different one.

After one block has reached the bottom of the groove 6 another may beentered at the top of the; groove and bear a different number and thestrip 10 changed to correspond thereto.

While the preferred form of the device has been shown and described, itis obviously apparent that changes in the form, size, proportions, andminor details may be resorted to without departing from the principle ofthe invention.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed as new is- 1. Aneducational appliance comprising a board having a single straight grooveadjacent to one side edge thereof, a block gravitatingly mounted in saidgroove and carrying a single character on one face, movable means forpositively holding the block at different elevations,a strip adjacent tosaid block having characters thereon and' an answerstrip to coact withsaid block and the characters on the strip adjacent to block.

2. An educational appliance comprising a vertical board havinga singlestraight groove adjacent to one side edge and extending full lengththereof, a block gravitatingly mounted in said groove and carrying asingle character on one face, movable means for positively IIO holdingthe block at different elevations and causing the same to have astep-by-step op eration, a character-strip adjacent to said groove thelatter being removable and reversible, anda removable and reversibleanswer-strip located adjacent to the side edge of the board oppositethat adjacent to which the groove is formed.

3. An educational appliance comprising a body or board having a groove,a series of retractable stops projecting through the grooved portion ofthe board, a block carrying a number and removably mounted in saidgroove to engage the stops, a product-strip for the block, and anintermediate numeralstrip.

4. An educational appliance comprising a body or board, a block slidablymounted in said board, a plurality of movable stop devices to engage theblock, and strips having numerals thereon, the block having a numberthereon to coaet with those of the strips.

5. An educational appliance comprising a body or board, a plurality ofspring-arms having terminal angular stops projecting through a portionof the body or board, pins for individuallyoperating said arms, a blockcarrying a number removably mounted in the said board and having aslidable movement under control of the said stops, a numeral-stripadjacent to the said block, and a product-strip to coact with said blockand numeral-strip.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM H. OAR'IWRIGHT.

WVitnesses:

A. J. IRWIN, 7 WILLIAM D. MCCARTHY.

